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Leroux on song as USA romp

USA found their scoring boots to inflict another heavy defeat on Switzerland who will depart from the tournament after their third group fixture on Tuesday. With this 5-0 victory, the US now have four points in Group D, three more than Ghana, and are well placed to go through as their final group game is against Korea Republic who are already assured of their qualifying berth.

Sydney Leroux, the star of Chile 2008 where she collected the adidas Golden Shoe award, scored a hat-trick and has already scored four for the tournament, just one less than her total from six games two years ago.

Switzerland made two changes for the Dresden game following their 4-0 defeat by South Korea with Muriel Bouakaz and Lara Keller coming in. They started positively and came mighty close to a 3rd minute goal as Ana Crnogorcevic got in between two defenders to meet a cross from Keller but headed just wide.

The harsh lesson of the need to take your chances was underlined immediately at the other end as the US took the lead. Leroux headed the ball on and Kristie Mewis sent her left-foot shot crashing down off the underside of the bar and over the line.

It was just the boost the Americans needed and Nathalie Schwery was forced to make a good block from Leroux and then shortly after from Christine Nairn as the pressure intensified.

That pressure led to a second goal in the 23rd minute as the Swiss defence failed to clear, allowing Maya Hayes to ferry the ball back to Leroux who cleverly gave herself room for a shot which Schwery could not keep out.

It became 3-0 two minutes later when a neat through ball sent Zakiya Bywaters clear of the defence. She slipped her shot inside the far post for a smart finish.

The Swiss kept battling away but their luck was out. Crnogorcevic came close again this time with a fierce right-foot shot that was destined for the far corner but flew just wide of the far post. She came even closer in injury time at the end of the half with another explosive shot which was heading into the net until Bianca Henninger got her fingers to it and tipped it onto the bar for a great save.

It was a moment that summed up the Swiss ill-fortune in this tournament as did the 61st minute when Lia Waelti played a fine through pass to Ramona Bachmann. The star of her team surged into the area with a clear scoring chance but sent her attempt high over the bar.

In contrast, USA were ruthless in front of goal with Leroux adding two more to her first-half goal. They were identical strikes in the 52nd and 76th minutes, each time running clear before rounding the unfortunate Schwery to score with ease.

At the same time as the US are facing South Korea in Bielefeld on Wednesday, Switzerland wrap up their programme with a game against Ghana in Bochum.